GALVESTON - A Texas City school bus driver who says he was fired for refusing to ride in a car with a gay man has lost his second lawsuit, thanks to his timing being off.
Larry Bryant twice sued the Texas City Independent School District while representing himself. U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew Edison tossed the more recent case Oct. 27 because Bryant filed his charge of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission more than 300 days after he was fired in September 2022.
"I have reviewed the record to see if I can find any reason that equity would dictate different result here, but I have found none," Edison wrote.
"Bryant may very well have been discriminated or retaliated against when the Texas City ISD terminated him... Unfortunately, that does not change the outcome.
"The law says that this lawsuit was filed too late and must be dismissed. My hands are tied."
Bryant says there was a minor accident on Sept. 1, 2022, on ISD property, which led to his boss ordering him to ride in a car with a person who is openly gay. His complaint said doing so would have placed "me at risk with health and religious morals."
The car ride was supposed to take Bryant to required post-accident drug and alcohol testing.
He sued on Feb. 27, 2023, but Judge Keith Ellison dismissed his claims five months later. He had received a right to sue letter from the EEOC a month after he was fired.
"If true, then Bryant's first charge of discrimination was timely," Edison wrote. "Unfortunately for Bryant, Judge Ellison dismissed all claims flowing from Bryant's first charge of discrimination."
Bryant had failed to respond to Texas City ISD's motion to dismiss in that case, Judge Ellison ruled.
In January of this year, he filed a charge but the EEOC dismissed it a day later as untimely. Four months later, he sued Texas City ISD again.
Texas City ISD's motion for dismiss said his claims were time-barred and also failed to state a valid discrimination claim. Edison never got to the latter after agreeing with the former.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Acts requires a plaintiff to exhaust administrative remedies before turning to litigation, which includes a filing of discrimination charge with the EEOC within 300 days.